WW1 Sources held by the Isle of Wight Record Office

WORLD WAR I SOURCES HELD BY ISLE OF WIGHT RECORD OFFICE

INTRODUCTION

The Record Office has very little material relating to individual soldiers. These records form part of the National Archive collection at Kew and can be accessed via their web site, Ancestry or Find My Past.

We hold records relating to a wide range of sources most of which concern the home front. Material marked with an asterisk in the list below is of particular importance and we would recommend that you consult these records. Undated material relates to the duration of the First World War

The following is a list of some suggested sources. It is not designed to be comprehensive but does demonstrate the types of records held at the Record Office.

NEWSPAPERS

The Isle of Wight County Press is the most useful Newspaper source and includes a list of members of the Isle of Wight Rifles departing for Gallipoli, July 1915, rolls of honour, reports from soldiers at the front and appeals for sending material to the troops. From 1916, the paper also includes local tribunal hearings for those wishing to be exempted from conscription. Post-war, there are references to the construction of War Memorials and reconstruction, such as the adoption of Monchy-le-Preux in 1921/22.

Ryde: over 900 records of cases applying to Military Service Tribunal for exemption form conscription. 1916-1918

Ryde Borough: Watch Committee: minutes, 1914-22. This volume contains details of operation of Aliens Act of 1914, including names of those allowed to stay in the Borough; references to military desertion cases, recruitment of special constables, policemen applying to join army

Burial Boards

Records of Burial Boards reflect burials during and after the First World War. Of particular interest are minutes for Carisbrooke and Gatcombe which include references to employment of women in the cemetery, 1918; wooden memorial crosses, 1918-19.

SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS AND HOUSE OF INDUSTRY

School Log Books include the impact of the war on school life, including decisions on letting teachers go to war, collection of materials for war effort and marking of Armistice. Examples from Hulverston School in the parish of Brook and Godshill School are available in a separate pamphlet.

Records also survive for some non-Parish schools of the period, such as Newport County School: Masters and scholars of Newport County School (AC2000/90)

1915, Whitecoft Asylum records: receipt of patients from West Sussex Asylum to enable that building to be used by wounded soldiers. (HO4/A4,5 and 7)

Minutes for the Guardians of the House of Industry during the war include provision for caring for the children of internees. (Z/HO)

COURT RECORDS

Registers of Summary Jurisdiction. These Include Ryde, and Island Petty Sessions, with references to exemption from conscription from 1916. (CPS/REG/70-71)

PRISON RECORDS

Registers include references to those who took place in the 1916 Easter Rising, although this may be stray item from Maidstone Prison.

PARISH AND NONCONFORMIST REGISTERS AND RECORDS

Parish Registers include records of baptisms, marriages and burials on the Island throughout the war, and reflect life and death in the immediate post-war period.

Parish Records include Church School Records (see above). They were also often involved in the National War Savings scheme (GDL/APR/99Z/12), and efforts in the immediate post-war period to construct parish War Memorials:

Arreton: Minutes of War Memorial Committee, with bills and receipts, 1919-20 (ARR/APR/17E/3)

Arreton: War Memorial Fund Bank book 1919-20 (ARR/APR/17F/1)

Bonchurch: photographs for consecration service for war memorial at church in Bonchurch, 1921 (BON/APR/100/6)

Bill: assessment of rent due from War Office on land occupied by trenches on Farringford Farm, 1916-17 (JER/LTF/20); damage caused by military occupation, and removal of chalk, 1915 (JER/LTF/27); Account Book of Dairy Produce of Farringford Farm, 1916-21 (JER/LTF/21); crop loss Easton Field, 1915 (JER/LTF/41)

Lease by War Department of land at Freshwater Bay/Watcombe Bay, 1913-18 (JER/LTF/57-58)

Removal of chalk by estate including by Golden Hill Fort, 1914-15 (JER/LTF/66)

White Popham

Insurance against aircraft and bombardment, 1915 (WhP1007/26)

Ward

Sale of timber 1910-16, and Statutory Rules and Orders: Defence of the Realm 1918:1234. The Fuel Wood Order 1918; lists of servants for taxation purposes, 1914 (Box 80)

JS White

Patents (JSW/11/1)

Aviation Account (JSW/11/9, JSW/37/9)

Correspondence re patents Hydro-Aero floats (JSW/11/11)

Specification for landing chassis for aeroplanes 1918, (JSW/11/13)

Specifications for steel steam boats for Royal Navy 1918 (JSW/16/4)

Balance Sheets 1905-21 (JSW/18/1)

Copies of Directors Report, 1914/15 (JSW/18/2)

Journal (JSW/26/1)

Affiche Parisienne 1912-16 (JSW/29/3)

Contract for Sea planes for the Portholme Aerodrome Company 1915 (JSW/33/2)

Letter book of Cowes Ferry Company from 1916, includes pp1 and 55 Saunders/White tensions; p27, 37, 63 asking for priority certificate for delivery of boiler tubes and ferry chains; pp29-30 complaints about behavior of men from Barracks; p41 instructions over overcrowding of ferry; p46, 53 correspondence with Labour Exchange; p52 duty passes for cars from Osborne; (CFC/B/3)

Clerk to the Lieutancy

Correspondence on National Reserve 1912-14 (JER/CTL/41-43)

Papers of J H Whitehouse (AC96/52)

(These papers relate to Whitehouse in his role as MP for Mid-Lanark and have no specific Isle of Wight link. Whitehouse was private secretary to Lloyd George early in the war)

Discussions with White House staff about peace negotiations

Conscientious Objectors

Reports to the President of the Local Government Board on hostels for Belgian Refugees and correspondence, Nov 1914 – Mar 1915

Mid-Lanark papers and correspondence, 1913-16, including dispute over his opposition to government bill to introduce conscription

Report on visit to Belgium in September 1914 to ascertain the present condition and needs of civilians, memorandum of interview with the King of the Belgians, visit to Tormonde. Newspaper articles, pamphlets on peace and war by German and British theologians 1914-15, children and farm work, military training in schools, 1915, poster attacking changes to the Constitution by the Lloyd George government nd , moves towards an armistice or peace negotiation, 1917-18.